"I want the 'lellow' cup," says three-year-old Seri Stinson.
"It's the yellow cup," clarifies her mother, Suzanne.
Seri watches her mother closely as she repeats the word again. "But
it's the same," she insists. "Your mouth does the same!"
Suzanne laughs, realizing her daughter is quite right - the only
difference between L and Y is in the movement of her tongue,
something Seri can't quite see. No wonder she's finding it a hard
sound to say.
"There are some sounds that preschoolers typically have trouble
with," explains Janet Campbell, a speech-language pathologist with
the First Words program in Ottawa. "Sounds develop in sequence, and
the more difficult ones are usually mastered last."
The most challenging sounds? Campbell says they are CH, J, L, R and
TH. "It's quite typical for a child to be in grade one without
being able to say R and TH," she says. "And if that's all your
child is having trouble with at five or six, I wouldn't worry about
it."
By three or 3¼, Campbell feels, your child's speech should be
comprehensible most of the time to most people. (Parents tend to
understand their own preschoolers even if nobody else does, so
that's not a fair test.) Many children have some idiosyncratic
words like "hanguber" for hamburger, but those aside, most of their
speech should be clear.
Some kids who are still working on certain letters sound as though
they have accents. "If you're starting to suspect your child was
destined to live in Boston, it may just be that she's not yet
figured out the letter R," explains Campbell. "So 'carport' comes
out 'cahpoht.'"
If your preschooler isn't speaking clearly, or has trouble with
many sounds, Campbell suggests seeking out a speech and language
expert for an assessment. That's what Natalie McNaughton did when
her 3½-year-old son, Davey, had difficulty articulating. She
understood him, but nobody else did.
"Davey would say things like 'puh me on a wing' when he meant 'push
me on the swing,'" McNaughton explains. "At first I couldn't figure
out what was wrong with his speech - it sounded so strange - and
then I realized he was leaving out all the softer sounds. I thought
perhaps he was having trouble hearing."
She was right. A visit to their family doctor revealed that Davey
had fluid behind his eardrums that had lingered after an ear
infection had resolved. For him, it was like listening to the world
from underwater. And, while he had tubes inserted to remove the
extra fluid, Davey's speech didn't improve until he began having
sessions with a speech-language pathologist.
Another sign parents should watch for, according to Campbell, are
words with no endings. For example, after turning three, your child
should not be saying 'cah' for 'cat.' Some children may not be able
to manage two consonants together - saying 'poon' instead of
'spoon' - and this is also a possible concern if it persists after
age 3½.
If your child is mispronouncing some words or not able to say
certain sounds, what should you do? Campbell tries to dissuade
parents from correcting their children. "If your child says, 'I see
a tat!' and you say, 'No, it's a cat, now say cat,' you risk
frustrating your child and discouraging her from talking." She
suggests responding to your child's attempts to communicate in a
positive way and, at the same time, modelling the correct speech.
Your response could be, "Yes, I see the cat, too. It's a big cat,
isn't it?"
It can also be a problem if you find your child's unique
pronunciations so charming that you add them to your own
vocabulary. "Your child needs you to say the words properly, to be
an example he can follow," Campbell reminds parents.
While it is important to catch emerging speech problems early,
Campbell also points out the range of normal "is very wide." One
two-year-old may be speaking in very clear, complete sentences
while her five-year-old brother is still calling himself 'Wobbie'
instead of 'Robbie.' If you're concerned, talk to your family
doctor or paediatrician about a referral to a speech
specialist.
Sound Stage
Your child should be able to pronounce the following:
- By age three: all the vowels, plus P, B, M, N, W, D, T, K, G
and H.
- By age 3½: F and S
- The most challenging sounds: CH, J, L, R and TH.